Perry Mason and the case of the unwanted Aunt
by susan cousineau
Summary: This is the story of Melanie an aunt of Eva a widow who is being harassed by her brother in law and the brother in law shows up murdered. It is a favorite of mine Perry Mason.


Melanie Grant had lived a good life. She and her husband Joe had been married over forty years before his passing five years before. They had no children and she had been thrilled when her niece Eva had invited her down for a visit. Eva too had been married for over ten years when her husband Mike of ten years had been killed in an automobile accident the year before. They had two children a boy Marcus eight and a girl Jillian who had just turned five.  
Although, Melanie lived just a little over one hundred miles away they didn't see each other but twice a year. So when Melanie had gotten the invitation to come for a two week visit, she had gladly accepted.  
Eva had a neat little ranch house on a small lat in Marlboro Ma. She had set up the small guest room for Melanie and the three of them had met her at the door with much excitement. Her niece had been cooking all day and the food smelled delightful. Eva and the girls were excellent cooks.  
Dinner was a delight and as Eva and Melanie had started to do the dishes, there came a knock on the door. It was Eva's husbands brother Will. He took a seat at the table and intently started to watch Melanie.  
"So Melanie, how long are you planning on staying?" Will asked.  
"I have been invited to come and visit for a period of two weeks." Melanie told him with a smile.  
"I do not mean to sound unfriendly, but don't you feel that two weeks is a long time to visit someone of poor means for two weeks? You know that my sister in law Eva is a widow with two small children." Will told her.  
"I am sorry that you feel that way. It is not my intention for me to be a burden on my niece and family. I have come to have a visit with family that is all. " Melanie offered. 'what a jerk.' she thought to herself.  
"I think that it would be in the interest of Marcus and Jill that perhaps you stay for just a few days. They can come and visit you at another time once things have settled down here." Will said.  
Melanie didn't like the tone that this man was giving her and would have liked to speak to her niece alone, but that was not possible. "I will think about that." she told him.  
That night Will stayed until past ten and made a point of letting Eva and Melanie know that he would be checking on them tomorrow evening. He made it clear to Melanie that he was going to make sure that Jillian and Marcus were not going to be allowed to do anything with her unless he was included in the activities.  
The next morning Melanie got up and could hear her niece on the phone. She was talking to a creditor it sounded like. It seemed to Melanie that someone was trying to collect a debt and the person on the other line was being very forceful.  
When Eva had gotten off of the phone Melanie sat her down at the table and took her handss "All will be ok, I promise."  
Melanie had done her best to make breakfast a happy affair and had smiled as the two children had gotten onto the school bus.  
As Eva and Melanie had been doing the morning dishes Melanie introduced the subject of her being of assistance to her niece. "Melanie, Joe and I never married and when he passed away, I was lucky enough to receive a large sum of money. If you need any assistance with bills or the children please let me give you some. Once you are back on your feet you can pay me back, if you cannot pay me back consider it a gift."her.  
Eva tried to stop the tears that were welding up in her eyes and swallowed hard. "Melanie, you are a wonderful aunt, but there is really little reason why we should be in a financial bind. My husband's business was very profitable. It is just that while everything is in probate we don't have access to our accounts until everything clears." she told her aunt.  
"Do you have a lawyer? You should not have bills piling up if the bank accounts are in joint form. Have you had an independent firm do an audit of the business? Melanie asked her.  
"I have been using the lawyers that worked for my husband's business and they assure me that everything is ok and that probate will be complete shortly. I don't know if there has been an audit done or not. It just seems that since Joe died there has not been enough money for anything." Eva told her.  
"What about your husband's partner? Have you spoken to him?" Melanie asked.  
"I think that is part of the problem, just six months before Mike died his brother Will bought out David Hickey. The business was in a state of confusion when Mike died. Will and Mike had been working together to make the partnership work. Will had lots of new ideas and Mike had wanted to keep it the same as it had always been. Unfortunately Mike died too soon afterward. Will has felt bad about everything and has been over nearly every night trying to help me." Eva told her.  
" Perhaps you have too many people who are too close to the situation what I think you need is a good lawyer who can help with the company. With the death of your husband who owns the company now?" Melanie asked  
"That is another thing that I have been worried about. The company was started by both Mike and me and even though I hadn't been as involved in the company since the children were born I am a full partner. Whenever, I go to the office Will treats me well but the foreman Dale Franklin acts like a woman's place is in the home and will not let me have access without an argument." Eva told her.  
"That is why you need a lawyer, one who is not involved in the business. You need to be able to have access to all information at the company, and you need to know what your financial situation is. I have a friend who works in Boston, we can go and talk to him. Once you speak to him you can make the decision on whether you want to hire him or not, ok?"  
Eva thought about it, she knew what her aunt said was true and that it was time that she find out what was going on. It had now been over a year since Mike had died and it was time that she and the children get back to living. "I will go with you to go see your lawyer." she told her quietly..  
That afternoon the girls and Melanie and Eva went to the mall. It was getting time for school shopping and Melanie had always felt she had missed that part of life without having any children of her own. She had a good time and at the end of the day she was exhausted and the girls were all set for school. Time and time again Eva had tried to pay for things, but Melanie shook her head and refused to allow it.  
As they pulled into the driveway neither Melanie or Eva were surprised to find Will's car in the driveway. He was sitting there watching them as they got out of the car. "So tell me where have you two been?" Will asked.  
"We have been out doing family things." Melanie answered quickly. She didn't want to sound rude but he was just too nosey. Again Will stayed at the house for over three hours that night and again prevented any family time alone. He was nice and polite and great with the kids but he just wouldn't leave.  
The next morning Melanie called her sister Carla and asked her if she could come over to Eva's house and watch the children when they got out of school. Carla couldn't have been happier to have a chance to spend some time with her grandchildren. She was aware that Eva was having some problems and was glad to hear that she was going to see a lawyer.  
As Melanie and Eva were met by Melanie's friend Della Street Melanie had started to feel better. If anyone could help her it would be Perry Mason. It was said that he was the best of the best and if you needed answers he was the person to go to.  
Mr. Mason was a large man over 200 pounds with jet black wavy hair and a wonderful genuine smile. 'no wonder Della likes working with him' she thought to herself.  
Eva seemed very nervous at first but Mr. Mason had set her at ease almost immediately, his smile had won her over also. She told him how she and her husband Mike along with their good friend David Hickey had started the small construction company some eight years before. How her husband had passed on and as a one half owner of the company Eva wanted to find out what was going on and why it seemed that she had no money. In all of the years that she and Mike had owned the business Eva could not remember getting bill collector phone calls at her house.  
Just then a knock came at the door and a tall blonde man appeared. He introduced himself as Paul Drake a private investigator, he would be handling most of the investigation into the workings of the company. He also had the name of a good accounting firm that could revue the books for her also. Mr. Mason promised Eva and Melanie that he would get back to them as soon as he had information for her. They were correct most of the information should have already been available to Eva, and since she was a one half owner of the company money should not have been a problem.  
Paul thought that the fist place to start should be with the former partner David HIckey. He might be able to give some insight into why he was willing to sell the business to Mike's brother. Will had purchased the business for a good sum of money 230 thousand dollars. If the business had been worth twice that amount just eighteen months ago, why was Eva having so much trouble with her finances?  
Paul went to the home of Mr. Hickey and saw that the home was in a very nice neighborhood and that the home seemed to be in good repair. Outside of the home he found a man in his early forties working in his garden. "Excuse me, are you David Hickey?"  
The man stood up and by the expression on his face Paul could see that he perhaps had been bothered before. "I am. How may I help you?" he said.  
Paul reached out to shake his hand and was met by a slightly hesitant strong hand and introduced himself. " I would like to speak to you about the business that you once partnered with Mike 's construction." Paul offered.  
" I thought that you might be interested in that. Nearly two years ago Mike's brother Will approached me about buying my half of the business. He knew that I had a heart attack a couple of years ago and that construction was a tough job for me. At first I had tured him down, but when he had made me such a generous offer, I had taken the early retirement." David told Paul.  
"Have you heard of any financial difficulties since Mike has passed?" Paul asked him.  
"Creditors are calling and coming to me in person nearly everyday. I don't understand it. That company is solvent, it just won a large contract that should have kept Eva financially stable for years to come. I have tried to speak to Will but he threw me off of the property and then got a no trespass order against me also. I cannot even speak to Eva." he told Paul.  
The next step was for Paul to go to Cranskys in person. He represented himself as a possible purchaser of some property that they were currently working on to a few of the employees. They were very friendly and showed him some of the homes. He found out through them that the company was in financial trouble and that some of their paychecks had bounced.  
When Paul had walked into the office, he was met by a very unfriendly foreman who would not allow him to get a word in edgewise. He was glad to see Will enter the room, and walked into Will's private office.  
It was here that Will's true colors had come out and Paul was told that anyone that wanted more information about the practice of the company would need a court order. He showed Paul a paper that was signed by Eva giving him full rights to all of the accounting.  
After Paul had left the office he immediately gave his friend Perry a call. Della had answered the phone and he was assured that there would be a court order ready for him that afternoon.  
Meanwhile Perry and Della had done some work on the problems that Eva had and had found out some interesting information. It turned out that Will had started his own side business under the name of Martin's construction. It had not been hard to find out about since Martin was Will's wife's maiden name.  
This business was growing while indeed Crankey Construction was going downhill fast. The Martin construction had been subcontracted to do the work for Cranskey. They were now the exclusive owner of all the contracts that had once belonged to Eva's and Mike's company and soon Cranskey would be out of business.  
Paul in the meantime had decided to do a little bit of investigating concerning the foreman at the Cranskey Construction company. When he had gone over to speak to Eva and Melanie Eva had been surprised to hear the name, that wasn't the foreman that she knew, the old foreman had been named Harry.  
Melanie couldn't believe what this man Will was doing to her niece, Perhaps if she went and spoke to Will, she could convince him to give up the game. Perhaps if she spoke to him and offered him enough money he would be happy.  
Melanie then excused herself from her niece's home and headed over to see Will. He seemed to have been a pain in the neck, but basically a good man. She knocked on the door and was surprised to find the door ajar. She opened it and said "hello" several times. She walked into the foyer and saw Will sitting at his desk. She spoke to him several times without an answer so she walked into the den. Then as she came closer, she saw a hole in the side of his face. He had been shot and was dead.  
OMG she had never thought that anything like that would ever happen and she panicked. She had to make sure that Will was really dead and she touched the desk and his body. That was when she had seen the gun and had foolishly touched it. Then she heard someone coming in, 'the murderer?' she thought.  
She hid behind the door and saw a strange man come in see Will at his desk and start going through some papers. He found the paper looked down at Will's body and laughed. He then walked out of the room and left the house.  
Melanie called the police right away and then called Mr. Mason. Lt. Tragg came right over and began to do the investigation. It seemed like he had a million questions for her, but she needed to wait for Mr. Mason who said he was on his way.  
Mr. Mason and her friend Della came and helped her with the interrogation. She had done nothing at all and was sure that someone else would be caught for the murder.  
Melanie knew now that Eva was the sole owner of the business and that the police could suspect her. When she had arrived at her nieces's house she had disappointed to find out that Eva wasn't there. She was surprised as it was almost time for Marcus and Jillian to come home from school. But, as expected Eva did arrive in time to take them off the bus. She told Melanie that she had been shopping, but there were no bags.  
Eva took Will's murder hard and Melanie's niece and nephew were very upset. Will had been a big part of their life and they now had no dad or uncle.  
A few days went by and Melanie and Eva had attended the funeral and the police had been by to speak to Eva. It was now very important that the truth be found. Without the truth any day now Melanie or Eva could find themselves charged with Will's murder.  
Perry was sure that Melanie was the prime suspect in the murder of Will because she had been the one that had discovered the body. It was his experience that the one that reported the body was very apt to be the murderer also.  
It had been a long day at the office and Perry looked up his private secretary Della with a smile. "Are you ready for a good dinner? I have nothing on my plate for the night so far." he told her with a smile.  
The dinner was very romantic with the best seats at one of the best places in town way up on the top floor overlooking the sites of the city. The table was candlelit and Perry and Della were well known patrons. They each ate quietly enjoying the quiet moments together. It always seemed that something was happening and so quiet moments were cherished.  
As Perry walked her to her house, they held hands and hugged. It was a wonderful warm summer evening and Della almost didn't want it to end. But she had been through this with Perry for many years. They had never yet taken the next step. Perry kissed her kindly and left with a bow.  
Perry had taken only a few steps from Della's home when his cell rang. Melanie Grant had indeed been charged with the murder of Will Cranston. He turned around and got Della, she was Melanie's friend and her friend would need her now.  
That night Della and Perry promised Melanie that she would be bailed out in the morning. It was not going to be an option on that night. This was a murder charge and unfortunately Melanie was going to have to spend the night in jail.  
Della hated leaving her friend there, and she was going to make sure that this was her friends one and only night that she would ever spend in jail. Melanie was a wonderful person who was no more capable of murder than she was.  
Paul Drake met Perry and Della at the office and they went over all of the information that they had on all of the people involved in the case. Paul had not been able to investigate the new foreman Dale Franklin and Perry thought it would be a good idea for him to start on that right away. Perhaps he would hold the key to what was going on at the business.  
Right away Paul called in some of his men to look into Mr. Franklin and how he had landed the job as foreman with little or no experience in the field.  
Paul went to the house of Mr. Franklin and parked just down the street. He could see that the home was in a poorer part of town and that the house was in poor condition. The cars that were parked in the driveway were old and in disrepair also. He noticed that there were kids toys all around the yard also. "Who is this guy?' he wondered.  
Just as Paul was beginning to wonder if his time was being wasted when a car pulled out and out of the car came the old foreman Harry. Harry went right up to the front door and it was obvious that the two were quarreling. Paul couldn't hear what was being said, but Harry left in a huff and rubbed tires as he left.  
Paul decided that the best thing for him to do was to run a credit check on both men. He got onto his laptop and looked up Dale Frank. As expected his report was poor, however, he had just come into a large sum of money some fifty thousand dollars and a new job.  
Then it was time for him to run a full check on Harold Newman. Harold on the other hand had a good credit report and a very fine reputation around town. He was the next person that Paul wanted to talk to. Paul looked at his watch noting that it was now after 10. He would have to wait until the morning to talk to Mr. Newman  
The next morning Paul made is way to Mr. Newman's house. The house was on a quiet residential street and neatly kept. It did not have the appearance of a wealthy home, but it was nice with a two car garage and a large yard.  
Paul walked up to the front door and was met by Harry himself. He was friendly and more than willing to speak to Paul. "Yes Yes I know about the arrest and murder. It is no wonder with all the under handed dealings that Will and his brother Dale were dealing with . It is no wonder." he told Paul.  
"Pardon me, did you say that the new foreman and Will were brothers?" Paul asked.  
"Oh yes, just after Mike died this guy Dale shows up. He tells Will that he is his half brother and the two of them become the best of friends. It seems that they had shared the same father and had just originally found this out. At first Will had not believed him, but the dna did prove otherwise. From that point on, I was not welcome at the company."  
'So that now makes sense why he would make Harry the new foreman' Paul thought to himself. He left and gave Perry a call. Perry also knew that the police would be not far from their tracks and that Lt Tragg would soon know about the half brother also.  
The weeks before the trial went too quickly and Perry still didn't have all of the answers. If Paul and him did not find out who had done the murder Melanie was going to have to stand trial.  
With that thought in mind Della Perry and Paul once again kept the midnight lights burning in the office.  
"Paul do you have a picture of Harry? Melanie says that a man had come into the office and had laughed at the body. She also says that he took a paper with him. He had taken it from the desk that Will had been sitting in." Perry asked.  
"Yes I do I took several photos of him the other night. Do you think that it is too late for us to give a call to Melanie?" Paul asked Perry.  
"It is just ten, but we can call her on her cell phone so it won't disturb the children and if she is in bed we can leave her a message." Perry told him.  
Della called Melanie, who picked the phone up almost on the first ring. She would be more than happy to look at the picture of the man so Paul sent the pictures to her. Melanie took one look at the photos and was positive that the pictures were of the man that she had seen at Will's home the day of the murder.  
Now they had so many suspects and only one murder. It seemed that everything had started to go downhill with the death of Mike. It was then that they decided to look a little deeper into the accident that had killed Mike, Eva's husband.  
The next morning Paul went down to police headquarters and looked into the accident. Mike had been alone in the car when he had suffered a blow out on his front tire. The blow out had caused him to lose control, he had gone into the woods and hit several trees. He had been pronounced dead at the scene.  
There had been an autopsy and everything had been found to be normal, however, the tire on the front of his car had been practically brand new with less than one thousand miles on it. What could have caused a tire like that to go flat?  
With that information Paul headed to the scene of the accident and started to take some photos. It was there that he met a young man on a bike. "Can I ask you what you are doing?" the young man asked.  
"I am taking photos of the scene of an accident that happened a couple of years ago here on this spot." Paul told him.  
"You see two years ago when the accident happened I was but fifteen and the police were not interested in my story. Are you interested in what I saw?" he asked Paul.  
"I could be. My name is Paul Drake. What is your name?"  
"My name is Peter Deane. I saw the accident. It was not an accident the tire was shot and the man lost control. I saw the man who fired the gun. He stood over there. With that he pointed to a hill not three hundred feet from there.  
Paul went to the spot that Peter pointed to and walked around. It was not long before he found some shot gun shells. He picked them up and thanked Peter. "If I need to I will contact you. You might be called to testify. Is that all right with you?" he asked.  
Peter agreed to testify if needed and Paul left. He spoke to Perry and was asked to come to his friends office. When he arrived at the office again they kept the fires burning this time well until after midnight. Perry Paul and Della made a great team and they knew that they were close to the name of the murder, they just needed proof.  
They now knew that Mike's death was not an accident, and that probably the same person who had murdered Mike had murdered Will. They knew that the common thing was the business and Perry was sure that that held the key.  
The next morning Paul showed up at the Newman's home. Something told him that he had missed something at the house. This time the door was opened by Nellie Newman, the mother of Harry. She was very friendly, and told him that she was headed out with her friend to go hunting some deer. Paul took one look at the gun that she was carrying and couldn't help but wonder about the gun that had shot the tire on Mike's car.  
"I too am a hunter. How long have you been hunting?" Paul asked her with a smile.  
" I have been hunting since I was a teenager, I don't miss with this gun, she bragged to him."  
Paul noted that the lady appeared to be in her sixties, and if she had been a sure shot, she could have easily shot the tire on Mike's car.  
With that Paul left the house and went on line to look up this lady Nellie Newman. She seemed to be a lady with a good reputation, and also had many photos of her hunting.  
The next person he wanted to a quick check on was Eva's mother Carla Browning. He looked up the information and discovered that she too was very good at handling a weapon. Carla could also have easily shot out the tires on her son in laws car.  
Paul headed back to Will's home to again check with any neighbors any cars that had been seen on the day that Will had been murdered. The next door neighbor had not been home on the day of the murder, Paul started with this home.  
The lady welcomed him into her home and was very willing to talk to him. On that day she had seen nothing out of the ordinary. The only person she had seen was Will's brothers car, and she had seen it there on several occasions.  
Paul then called Perry, they needed to go to Marlboro and speak to Eva her mother Carla and Melanie. Della gave Melanie a call and they agreed to meet in two hours. The two children were going to be at a cub scout sleepover, and she felt better about it.  
Perry was pretty sure that one of the members of the household was the murderer of Mike and Will. "We know that someone who is a very good shot, has something to do with the death of your husband Eva. I think that the one who shot out the front tire of Mike's also shot and killed Will." Perry accused them.  
All of a sudden Carla broke into tears. I didn't mean for Mike to die. I wanted to scare him. By shooting at his tire, he would have been frightened. When he struck those trees and died it was the worst thing that could have happened to my daughter and family. I would have done anything to have changed that fact. But, I didn't kill Will. Why would I?"  
"I believe you Mrs. Browning." Perry told her. "You must turn yourself into the police, you probably be charged with the assault. I will be willing to help you"  
With that the three friends left. He now knew who the murderer was an he was going to confront him. As they pulled into the Browning driveway they were met by Eva's stepfather Brian. He actually didn't seem that surprised to see them. Perry walked up "Mr. Browning My name is Mason."  
Mr. Browning allowed them into the house "How may I help you?" he asked.  
"Mr. Browning do you like to go hunting?" Mr. Mason asked.  
"I used to love to hunt but my eyes are failing and I cannot see good enough to shoot anything anymore. Why?" he asked.  
"Do you deny that you did not go to Will's house and murder Will?" Perry demanded.  
"That is silly, of course, I had nothing to do with the murder." he retorted.  
"Oh I think you did. I have a neighbor that saw Mike's car at Will's house on that day. This car was well known to the neighbor. There is a set of fingerprints on the shells found in the office that Will was killed in and I think that they will match yours." Perry demanded.  
"It was not me you are way off mark. I cannot see well enough to drive two blocks never mind two miles." he retorted.  
"Do you know who would have access to Mike's car? The neighbor says that the car is seen quite often in the driveway." Perry asked him.  
It was then that Perry saw a light go off in Mr. Browning's face. "You know who I am talking about don't you?" he demanded.  
Mr. Browning started to fidget and Perry and the group knew that he was thinking of something and that Mr. Browning suspected he knew who the murderer was so Paul pressed on "You do know who did it now, don't you?"  
Just as Mr. Browning was fidgeting the door opened and a young man walked in. It was Dan, one of the young men who worked at the company. He had been one of the men that Paul had spoken to at the construction site. When he saw Paul he started to turn but it was too late. Perry grabbed him and demanded "Tell me what happened at Will 's that day Dan." Paul demanded.  
"I don't know what you are talking about." Dan retorted.  
"You are not going to stand there and expect me to believe the story that you know nothing about what happened at Will's house that day. I have a witness who saw a man leave Will's house that morning with a description of the car. It would not surprise me to find that your fingerprints are the fingerprints that were found on the shell casings also." Perry demanded.  
"Yeah, you cannot prove a thing. Why would I care about Will? I had a job no matter what my father would make sure of that. My half sister still owns half of the business.  
"You can't prove anything. My father will tell the police that I was here all day that day." he laughed.  
"Dan, I can't cover you for something like this. Melanie could go to jail for the rest of her life. Tell them the truth." Mr. Browning asked of his son.  
"All right all right, I had no choice. Will was setting it up so that Mike and Eva were going to slowly go down with their business. But Mike was getting wise to what was going on and had hired an independent firm. He was on his way to the office to expose Will when my stepmother decided to shoot out his front tire. You see Mike had been very much against my step mom and dad's wedding. He was going to tell Eva and wanted to change the terms of the business. He also had proof that there was some money missing and suspected his brother Will was involved. My stepmother shot out the tire hoping that she could talk to Mike and convince him to work out everything with Will. But he was killed and things had to change right then. Will was blackmailing me because he had the proof that my step mother had shot the tire. Will wanted to have the company become his only and was slowly turning all the assets to his own company. I went over to his home to try to convince him to give me back my job. He had fired me that afternoon and he laughed. He said that he was going to have my step mother arrested and that Eva would never be able to touch any of the money on the business. He laughed at me, and I shot him.  
That night the lights once again burned late, but this time it was for the three friends who had once more saved a lady from a life behind bars. They celebrated the win with a glass of champagne and lots of hugs. 


End file.
